


play the fox

by nautilics



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, HQ Brofest Flash Tier, Non-Linear Narrative, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 17:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14194371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nautilics/pseuds/nautilics
Summary: A team of foxes, in vignettes.





	1. many

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is dedicated to the wonderful team that is inarizaki and all the delight that they bring, and to my tl for cheering me on, and for being part of the whole inarizaki experience™

The air is brisk against Shinsuke’s face after practice. The team had dispersed rather quickly afterwards, cleaning up with minimal direction while Coach Kurosu had pulled Shinsuke aside to discuss training plans. 

“Oh, and Shinsuke,” Coach Kurosu had added, while locking up. “Happy birthday.”

Perhaps it’s the sentiment of this day, but Shinsuke had wanted to thank his team for their hard work. His team surges forward without hesitation, and Shinsuke is never prouder than when he is watching them.

Well, he thinks, stepping through the school gates, he can always tell them tomorrow.


	2. reunion

As always, Aran hears the Miya twins before he sees them. 

“Is that—”

“—yeah, it is!” 

And then two voices, in synch: “ _Aran-kun_!” 

Aran turns to see the twins, in the Inarizaki school uniform, waving through the crowd of students, excited expressions and all. It’s not too surprising that they would end up here in Inarizaki High, a volleyball powerhouse, but it kind of feels like the deities are laughing at him every time they cross paths. 

He can’t pretend he didn’t see them, so he waves back. Who knows? Maybe they’ve matured since middle school. 


	3. malarkey

“Atsumu,” Kita says, during the water break. Atsumu looks up and Kita shakes his head. “No, not you Osamu. _Atsumu_.”

There’s a moment of confused silence around the circle. Osamu’s face remains impassive for a beat, before his face falls and he groans into his hands. Aran gazes at the twins with an expression of dawning exasperation.

‘Atsumu’ smirks. “That’s pudding for a week, ‘Tsumu.”

“Kita-san, you could have waited till practice was over!” Osamu—no, Atsumu— whines. 

Kita fixes both of them with a Look, and they shut up. “An extra lap of flying falls. _Both_ of you.” 


	4. alibi

“I'm sleeping,” says Osamu, all of a sudden, and curls up on his desk, regardless of his half-eaten _bento_ and Suna sitting right there in front of him.

“‘Samu!” Atsumu’s head appears at the classroom door. He pulls a face when he sees Osamu. “Ugh—we were supposed to practise our time difference attack today.”

Suna gestures. “He’s sleeping.”

“Poke him for me!”

“Nah.”

Atsumu rolls his eyes but disappears from the door. Suna hears his voice calling one of the first-years down the hall.

“Thanks.” Osamu’s voice is muffled.

“Don’t mention it,” Suna says, and helps himself to Osamu’s food.


	5. respect

Out of the second years, one of them sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s weird to Atsumu that Kita Shinsuke—average all-round, except maybe for his receives—commands so much respect. He doesn’t flaunt it, but Atsumu’s seen how even the third year _senpai_ pay attention when he speaks.

“I don’t get it,” he mutters to Osamu. “He’s not even a regular.”

“Aran-kun says his game sense is exceptional. Like he knows everything.”

Someone who couldn’t even make it as a regular couldn’t know all that much. It’s ridiculous, Atsumu decides. Someone like that has no place on the volleyball court. 


	6. happy

“Of _course_ we have to do something special!” Atsumu declares, very loudly, when he finds out. “It's _Kita-san_!”

“We could get a cake,” Akagi suggests. “Something not too sweet.”

Atsumu lights up. “With heaps of candles! And confetti and streamers and—”

“Balloons!” Ginjima adds.

“ _Yeah_! And—” 

“This is for Shinsuke, not you lot!” Aran interrupts. “That’s going to make a mess!”

“Let’s think about what Shinsuke likes,” Oomimi says, ever logical. “And go from there.”

A considering look comes over Suna’s face. “How about a bird? A cute one.”

“Suna, what the _hell_ —”


	7. apples

The old tree just past the underpass is laden with apples ripe for the picking, gleaming tantalisingly overhead in the late afternoon light. If Shinsuke stretched on his toes, he would be able to brush a finger against the lowest apple, perhaps. 

“Heads!”

An apple arcs through the air, and Shinsuke catches it. It’s firm in his hand, slightly blemished, still perfect. 

“Nice receive, Shinsuke!” Aran crows, and Shinsuke huffs a laugh. Aran plucks one for himself. “There’s nothing like apples—oh, it’s sweet!”

“It’s good,” Shinsuke agrees. 


	8. silence

Atsumu kicks off his shoes and storms into the bedroom first, getting a small, vicious satisfaction in slamming the door _hard_ , even if Osamu catches it before it can bang shut. He tosses his bag aside, hurls himself into the bottom bunk, and ignores the squeaking of the ladder overhead. 

Something ugly churns in his chest, has been churning since the first missed spike, till it had spilled over into his words. His face still stings; Osamu hadn’t held back at all. 

Atsumu should have.

In the suffocating silence, Atsumu closes his eyes, and extends a peace offering.


	9. keen

Gin shares the same route as Suna to-and-from school, but Suna never takes him up on the offer to walk to morning practice together. “You don’t walk, you _jog_ ,” Suna complains.

“It’s warm-up! You gotta fire up your muscles if you want to play ball.”

Suna yawns. “It’s way too early for movement.” He looks ready to fall asleep right there, slumped against the gym wall, and Gin is instantly alert at the sound of laziness.

“Where’s your _spirit_ , Suna!” Gin ignores Suna’s grumbling and pulls him to his feet. “Let’s go do a lap to wake you up!” 


	10. antics

“Hey ‘Tsumu, did you know? Goldfish have really bad memory.”

“Really?”

“Short lives, too.”

“That’s sad, ’Samu.”

“Yeah, sad…”

The goldfish bloops. As one, the twins look at Suna, who blanches. “I’m not buying you two a goldfish because you feel sad.”

“Naru-chan can be the team mascot,” Atsumu says, eyes shining.

“We _have_ a mascot,” says Suna. “And why did you name it?”

Osamu says, “I bet Kita-san would think Naru-chan is cute.” Suna pauses.

Atsumu continues. “Bet he’d make faces at her.”

“And coo at her.”

The twins smile. “Right, Suna?” 

Suna twitches. He reaches for his wallet.


	11. returns

Shinsuke steps through the school gates, and as he does so, a lot of things happen at once:

A blur of red jackets and a chorus of “Happy birthday, Captain!”— 

—Gin’s grinning face, Suna’s camera at the ready— 

—Akagi, smiling, and Ren’s tall silhouette next to him, a cake in his hands, with several candles on it, flickering—

—the twins, launching themselves up on Gin’s shoulders, cheering; Gin, losing his balance— 

—and Aran, smile morphing into a yell, hands reaching out, as the second years topple onto Akagi, who stumbles, and knocks into Ren, and—

 _Click!_


	12. shinsuke

Granny frets a little when he comes home with cake stains on his jacket, but only a little. Mostly she’s smiling, and so is Shinsuke, because despite the mess—despite the trip back to the club room to clean up, and Gin, Osamu and Atsumu procuring apologetic ice cream for everyone—there is a warm feeling nestling gently in his chest.

“Your friends are a good bunch, aren’t they Shin-chan?” she says, after he recounts his day.

Shinsuke thinks about sweet apples, ice cream, and the glittering stage of Nationals, waiting for them. Pride swells in his chest, familiar. “They’re amazing.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! feel free to say hi on [twitter](https://twitter.com/espurrkawa) <3


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